Possible mouth issues?

[Metalboop]

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 24x24x12 I think? I got the starter package from Kammerflage
Lighting - all the lighting that came with the starter kit, 5.0 bulb and basking lamp.
Temp - highs of low 80s and lows of mid 70s. It varies a bit from day to day
Humidity - I have a mistking that runs 4 times a day as well as hand misting on occasion when I have to run the space heater if it's cold. It's usually between 50 and 70 percent.
Plants - pothos and dwarf scheflera
Placement - Cage is in the corner of my room on a 4 foot stand.
Location - Pennsylvania

Current Problem - Bossk seems like he's gaping a lot, even when the temp is low. And I've seen him chewing and pulling on the small plastic coated wires that stick out of the vines to attach them to the screen. He really was tugging on them and chewing so I got rid of them. Am I just being worried or could it be something serious? He still hunts and strikes great, and I can't see any obvious discoloration when he opens his mouth. Thanks for the help in advance

 

[ataraxia]

please fill out the top of the form.

scroll down to the RI section and see if that pertains to you.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ataraxia/482-issues-body-region-internal.html

 

[jannb]

Could be an RI. Do you see any extra saliva in his mouth?

 

[Metalboop]

Whoops, forgot these

Your Chameleon - Male blue bare ambilobe, roughly 5 months old ( I know he was born in June, but not sure of the exact date
Handling - Almost never. The only time so far besides cleaning was durring that blizzard a few weeks ago. We lost power for 4 days so I had to move him to a small plastic cage and put it on the mantle to keep him warm. His cage was 55 degrees in my room
Feeding - I feed him mostly crickets and superworms, as well as occasional hornworms, blue bottle flies, soldier flies, and silk worms. He gets calcium with d3 twice a month and calcium without every other day if not everyday
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? See above, and they're repashy
Watering - mistking, little dripped, and hand misting.
Fecal Description - usually dark and moist with a white tip, pretty normal from what I've read. And he's never been to a vet

 

[Metalboop]

I don't really notice any extra saliva, I've never heard any crackling or wheezing while he's breathing. He eats and drinks as much as he always has, about 5 or 6 crickets atleast and 1 or 2 superworms.

 

[davthevieled]

Pictures while gaping would help, what one would consider normal (I mean if your cham develops an RI and you think the amount of saliva looks normal could be different to someone who has had a cham who has had an ri). Also pictures in general would help... What is your misting schedule like? How often and how long? Nostrils have any sort of mucus dry or wet?

 

[Metalboop]

Misting is 4 min in the morning about a half an hour after the lights come on, 2 more times later for 2 minutes, and a 3 minute misting 2 hours before the lights go off. I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow, I have to take him out to clean tomorrow anyway. It could be tough getting pics with his mouth open, he usually closes his mouth when I get close to the cage. But I don't notice any saliva outside of his mouth like drool or bubbles, and I don't see any mucus around his nostrils.

 

[Metalboop]

Although maybe it's worth noting when he was chewing/pulling on the wires it was right before he shed. Could it have just been an itch or him tring to get the shed started? Just a thought.

 

[Metalboop]

i took these today. sorry for the low quality, cell phone is all i have right now. and i didnt have any luck getting picks of his mouth open though. and today instead of a wire i found him chewing on a rock in the bottom of the plants.

 

[ataraxia]

chewing on rocks, bark, leaves could mean that he is hungry, thirsty, curious of his surroundings or lacking nutrients.

im going to say he is still hungry (make sure to gut load the feeders well) and make sure he is getting enough water.

id also do away with supers.

are you gut loading?

 

[Metalboop]

Yea I gut load with repashy bug burger, grains, orange cubes, and spair veggie scraps from dinner. Potatoes, carrots, squash, zucchini and such. It almost seems like he's scraping his teeth. Could it be possibly I just have a "chewer"? I know of some strange habits other chams have, like eating dirt or their plants.

 

[ataraxia]

anything is possible

how many feeders do you offer per feeding? what size feeders? how many does he actually eat? how often do you feed?

 

[Metalboop]

Usually 8-10 crickets with 2 worms or varying kinds. I use a side mounted feeder made by removing the side of an ice tea jug and hanging it upside down. Then glued a peice of cardboard to the back of it. The crickets climb up the cardboard but rarely get out. He usually has 1 or 2 left at the end of the day, unless he just shed, he's usually really hungry then.

 

[Metalboop]

And they're about three quarters of an inch crickets, about a month old I'd say.

 

[ataraxia]

how often? im not going to lie. from the pics supplied. he looks just a tad skinny to me. he is a growing panther... so i know it is hard to keep up with them sometimes or you run into health issues. if this is everyday your feeding this quantity faithfully. im not going to lie...he may be a wierdo, still hungry or lacking a vitamin/mineral..

this is just throwing this out in the air. this is completely out of an assumption. in an article on studied wild caught stomach contents. Now this may be genus or species related. But they consistently found small pebbles in the stomach of wild caught chameleons. They "suspected" that this acts as some sort of anti parasitic. I personally also assume this particular species hunts close to the ground. So naturally picking up debris from the ground when selecting prey. bettles, bees, butterflies/moths and some plant material make up the contents in dissected stomachs. so i would think, maybe get a fecal done?

im getting close to "out of ideas" for you. maybe someone else will have a suggestion

can i see a pic of your complete cage?

note: your getting close to replacing your uvb bulb.

 

[Metalboop]

That's what I give him everyday.

 

[Metalboop]

And I have pics of my cage in one of my old threads on here. It's the same minus the feeder.

 

[ataraxia]

if you would like...post a pic of a recent poo and complete set up.

which thread?

 

[Metalboop]

here are some pics of my setup. i just took my schefflera out, it was really sad, almost charlie borwn christmas tree like haha. i cleaned it today, and i think hes still stressed so no poo pics today (sounds so wrong)

and i got a pic of him chewing on a green vine wire

 

[ataraxia]

hahah it happens. ive produced my fair share of twigs. you will get the hang of keeping plants.

great job on decorating the cage. id look into getting a 24x24x48 as soon as you can.

First, if your chameleon was mine. i would weigh him right now and keep record of it weekly. I would also record his eating habits. Feeder type and quantity eaten.

Second, i would make sure he is drinking. even if it meant bumping up the misting systems duration or manually spraying three to four times a day. i didnt notice any drainage on your set up...this will be a issue.

Third, i would feed him till he eats no more in the afternoon and then offer some more in the evening. I would do this faithfully. gut loading and supplements are important.